Bearcats swept by Truman State in first MIAA loss

On the latter end of a back-to-back, Northwest Missouri State's conference unbeaten streak came to an end Saturday night with a 3-0 loss to Truman State at Pershing Arena in Kirksville.

Truman State won the first two sets 25-12 and completed the sweep by taking the third set 25-16.

The win moves Truman State (12-5, 5-2) within a half-game of the third-place Bearcats. Northwest (9-6, 5-1) had won its first five conference matches, but ended the week at 1-2 against MIAA opponents.

Truman hit .260 for the match and limited Northwest to a -0.18 hitting percentage. That's the lowest for the Bearcats since being swept by Southwest Minnesota at the Missouri S&T Middle of Everywhere Classic.

Allie Brak and Abby Heise led Truman's offense in the victory with nine kills each. Brak, who leads the team in attacks, had a total of 31 in the match.

Northwest had four different attackers hit in the negatives for the match, including second leading hitter Abby Graves at .-286.

Brooke Bartosh led the Bearcats with six kills. Kelsey Larson was Northwest's most effective hitter with five kills on .308 hitting.

Setter Dallas Gardner dished out 12 assists, and Bridget Hanafin added nine.

Tori Beckman led Northwest with 19 digs.

The Bearcats have a break next week before they travel to Topeka, Kan. to compete in the Lady Blues Fall Classic hosted by Washburn on Oct. 5-6.

Friday's result

After winning the first two sets, Northwest had to go the distance to beat Southwest Baptist 3-2 Friday at Bearcat Arena.

The Bearcats secured the match with a 15-13 win in the fifth set. Northwest won the first set 25-22 and the second set 27-25. Southwest Baptist took the third set 26-24 and the fourth 25-20 to even it at 2.

Dallas Gardner keyed the Bearcats with 34 assists, 13 kills and a .500 attack percentage. Abby Graves led the Bearcat offense in total attacks with 63 and turned 20 of those into kills.

Southwest Baptist was led by Jordan Nedbalek on defense with six blocks and one solo block on the night.

Nedbalek also was a big part of the Southwest Baptist offense with 14 kills and .433 attack percentage.